


You Don't Need to Say

by auralikh



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Talentswap (Dangan Ronpa), Child Caregiver Ouma, M/M, Subdued Oumasai
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-20
Updated: 2018-02-20
Packaged: 2019-03-21 20:10:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13748373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/auralikh/pseuds/auralikh
Summary: Ouma Kokichi is absolutely, definitely, indubitably the SHSL Assassin. Or so that's what he tried to persuade others for the last week.





	You Don't Need to Say

**Author's Note:**

> For the SaiOuma Exchange

At first it made sense to Saihara why Ouma’s lab was kept barred from the others, surrounded by traps of all sorts, ranging from legitimate booby traps to an excessive number of banana peels and whoopee cushions and . A lab built for an assassin would be filled with weapons of all sorts, an invitation for anyone to get whatever they need to cause another murder.

What Saihara didn’t expect was for those guns and knives and poison darts to be teddy bears, children’s books, and video games.

The first thing he hears is Momota’s laugh.

“Wow, I never knew stuffed animals were used for assassinations! Do you snuggle someone to death with those?”

Harukawa was next, “I guess the secrets given out by Monokuma do have some truth to them after all. Unlike a certain “assassin” here.” Saihara didn’t have to look to know she glared right at Ouma.

“...Hm? What are you talking about?” Ouma stepped in front of all of them and grinned, “If I made all my weapons so obvious, then I would’ve never become the top assassin in the world!”

“I don’t see a single suspicious thing in here though~” Angie hummed, flipping through the children’s books and looking inside crayon boxes, “I think Atua is telling me that someone might be a liar.” Everyone else has started looking around at this point. Momota and Angie were looking through practically everything, while Chabashira glanced around making remarks about how could a menace possibly be a good child caregiver. Saihara, however, kept looking back at Ouma, at how he still kept smiling despite the fact that the lie seemed to have been revealed. How does he still look so carefree about this?

“You know, you’re all awfully accepting of all this stuff Monokuma’s provided. Have any of you even thought about how he’s basically the one who’s set everything up here?” Ouma rested his hands behind his head, “He can put anything he wants in here. I wouldn’t put it past him to be so desperate that he renovated my entire lab to suddenly call me SHSL Child Caregiver. I mean, doesn’t that title sound ridiculous?”

Saihara stared at Ouma. Ouma noticed and smiled at him, “See, Saihara-chan believes in me! Who knew the pianist would be the only one who can think around here?”

There’s the slightest tremolo in those words, and the questions falls just a bit soft, a fall in confidence. But Saihara didn’t mention it, how Ouma’s logic made sense yet his voice seemed to betray him ever so slightly. Maybe it’s just his ears being too picky about the finer details.

“But I didn’t say anything.”

Ouma smirked, “You don’t need to.”

* * *

 It had been three days since Ouma’s lab was opened, or rather, broken into. Three days, three more secrets revealed, but nothing had caused quite a stir like the truth of Ouma’s talent. And every attempt at interaction has been cut short too.

“Do you have time today?”

“Oh no, but I’m _sooo_ busy. I’m big in demand after all, sorry Saihara-chan!”

* * *

 “Hey, about those games-”

“Would you look at that? It’s time for me to plan the unfortunate death of little Harukawa-chan. See ya!”

* * *

 “Ouma-kun, this isn’t even about the talent thing-”

“Saihara-chan’s such a horrible liar! Too bad you’ll never be able to hire someone top-notch like me! Now an assassin like me should actually go do his job, so I gotta go!”

* * *

 On the evening of the third day, Saihara found Ouma as they were both leaving the dorms.

“Ouma-kun.”

“Aw, is Saihara-chan that desperate for a murder but isn’t willing to do the dirty work himself? I’m quite honored, but I’m very busy,” Ouma smiled, getting ready to escape like usual, but Saihara side stepped in front of him to block his path, “Hm? Oh, were you looking for someone to babysit you instead? Momota-chan’s already taken you in, unless you need a second dad to help you~”

“You know,” Saihara sighed, “I originally wasn’t even going to talk about your talent. I was just going to continue that “game” of ours. I didn’t want to die after 100 ties in rock paper scissors. But now that you’ve just been avoiding me and everyone else, how can I not bring that up? What’s going on, Ouma-kun? Why did you call yourself the SHSL Assassin at first?”

Ouma tilted his head, “Because I am, even a liar like me can’t lie about my talent. Maybe if I called myself something like a supreme leader to a secret evil organization, but alas, Harukawa-chan already took that role.” He made an exaggerated sigh, shoulders slumping down, “I had no choice but to be my true assassin self! Though it was fun working with Monokuma to make that prank, redecorating my lab like that.”

“It still looks exactly like that.”

“Really? Sheesh, Monokuma’s so lazy.” Ouma checked his nails. The nonchalant air of his voice was forced, coming off a bit too blunt to sound like truly casual.

“No, there’s something more to that,” Ouma looked up from his hand as Saihara continued to talk, “It doesn’t explain how you acted, how you sounded a little shaken back then, and even now.”

A laugh. Saihara can’t tell whether it’s forced or not because it sounds exactly the same as every other laugh Ouma has made, “I think someone here is starting to hear things~ You’ve been relying on your keen pianist ears to get you through the trials so much that you’re starting to get hypersensitive to the slightest vocal fry or crack. Not that I blame you though! It’s only natural to blame someone in a place like this.”

“It’s not about me doubting you or anything. It’s just… I don’t get it. I can get why you might not want to share your actual talent,” Even when Ouma became an elusive presence at best after the reveal, there were jokes and jabs about him being made at the dining hall table all the time now. Jokes about whether the stuffed animals are supposed to be for the children or Ouma himself, about how he’s just a big softie under that edgelord exterior, “But why an assassin? Why’d you choose something that just brought more attention to you, to make everyone doubt you from day one? I don’t get it.”

“Who said I’m not someone to be doubted?” The smirk Ouma put on felt disjoint with how the “who” started off a little too abrupt, settling down to a regular question by the third word.

“You say that but… Do you actually want that?”

“Does it matter?”

“I, I wouldn’t want that on anyone.”

“...We can’t all get what we want.” That sounded much more honest, straightforward.

“I-I know, but, that still doesn’t answer my question. Assassin seems too… much to be a random talent to choose. What were you trying to do with that, Ouma-kun?” Saihara covered his mouth with his hand and the question came out muffled.

“You can’t just critique my voice and then just hide yours like that, you know.” Ouma tilted to the side, both hands behind his head, “But if you really want to know, it’s because I’ve just always dreamed of being a cool assassin, with looks that can kill~”

“So much so that you’d be willing to hold that title in a situation like this? That’s a really bad lie coming from someone like you.”

“...Enough about me!” Ouma suddenly grabbed Saihara’s wrist and tugged, “You can’t just criticize my vocal performance all one-sided like this!” He started dragging Saihara out of the dorms and towards the main building.

“Wh-where are we going all of a sudden? You still haven’t answered my question!” Saihara would try to yank himself out, but part of him was afraid that if he tried to do that, then Ouma would just use that as a means of escape.

“To your lab, silly!” Ouma smiled at him as if this was what they were originally going to do, “You never actually played in front of any of us, how am I supposed to be sure that you’re the SHSL Pianist?”

They made it to the lab and Ouma shut the door behind them immediately, “C’mon, play me one of your loudest pieces by dead white guys!”

“Ouma-kun, if you just use this to run off again I swear to god…”

“I’m not going to run off, what do you think I am, a coward?” Saihara was tempted to reply with a deadpan “yes” but Ouma dragged them both to the grand piano at the center of the room, forcing Saihara to sit down while he sat right next to him, “I wanna see how shy little Saihara-chan can play something loud and rambunctious! You wouldn’t fit your title if you can’t play every type of piece, right?”

Saihara eyes Ouma, whose eyes were sparkling with an over-enthusiastic expression, “Are you going to answer me if I play something for you?”

“If you play something that’s actually worthy of that SHSL Pianist title, then sure~!”

Saihara’s heart jumped past a couple of beats. He hardly considered himself worthy of the talent, and he hadn’t touched a piano in a couple of days because of their current situation. With the way Ouma’s looking at him, he doubts he’ll get a twenty minute warm up period either.

“Fine…” He hoped he didn’t sound too nervous, but he took a deep breath and hovered his hands, fingers spread out like an eagle’s wings, as he scrolled through his mental list of repertoire.

“Th-this one’s going to start off a little soft, but just be patient…” Saihara cleared his throat, though it does nothing to settle his nerves. And with that he started playing the first movement of Shostakovich Piano Concerto No.2. The beginning started off on the softer side, but playful and mischievous, something he thought might be fitting for Ouma.

“Woow, I hope you bring up the volume soon, Saihara-chan~ It’s easy for me to talk over it right now.”

“...Just, just give me a moment…” Saihara barely whispered, trying to focus on the piece. The softer, more lighthearted introduction made it easier for him to start getting into it, though there were many sections that weren’t satisfactory to his standards, each part which didn’t quite meet his expectations giving him a jolt of anxiety. At a point, it seemed that he was only getting quieter and softer, and Ouma was about to complain again, when Saihara practically slams his hands on the keys with a change in mood so abrupt that Ouma jumped in his seat.

A smile creeped onto Ouma’s face, a genuine one, though Saihara was too focused on making sure that his hands were jumping to the right locations on time to notice. The introduction made a nice warm up to the actual mood of the piece, loud and vivacious. It appeared that Saihara was getting more into the piece too, the way that he rocked back and forth to the phrases was much less stiff now, more aligned with the music. Ouma was tempted to just listen to the entire piece, but no, that’s not what he came for.

_“Hey, can you hear me? Just nod if you can.”_

The whisper, barely audible under the chords that climbed up the keyboard at an astounding speed, almost made Saihara jump. But instead, his jaw clenched and he nodded slightly, still playing as if nothing had occurred. Ouma wanted him to play something loud on purpose, is the reason behind his talent lie that important?

Ouma smiled, _“Great. Don’t make any reactions that make it seem like I’m talking to you. Who knew your sharp ears would be this convenient! If you have to tell me anything, just mouth it, I’m a good lip reader.”_ Saihara nodded again as he reached out to the right side of the piano to reach the high notes. Ouma didn’t bother scooting away to give the other space.

 _“You see, I was in fact hoping to make everyone doubt me by calling myself the SHSL Assassin.”_  The words spilled out of his mouth, soft and... somewhat hesitant? But in that hesitance held genuineness. Ouma glanced sideways for just a moment, checking the door, but kept his cheery demeanor nonetheless, _“I’m trying to look at the bigger picture you see…”_

Ouma kept going, telling Saihara that he wanted everyone to doubt him from the get go, to alienate himself from the crowd, to make everyone suspicious. Saihara glanced at him at a short pause in between movements, but he didn’t mouth the question “Why?” until he started playing again, skipping right to the third movement in order to keep playing loudly.

 _“Because… because… I want to end this killing game.”_ Saihara almost stopped right there, but he forced himself to keep going through, trying not to get too distracted to mess up the cadenza either, _“Making myself obvious like Gonta doesn’t help with that whatsoever. What’s the point of having detective skills if you die before you get the chance to use them once?”_ Saihara nodded, though it could easily be mistaken as going with the flow of the piece.

 _“If the mastermind thinks I’m enjoying this, that I’m adding to the game, they have no reason to pull the strings to get me killed.”_ Ouma stared at the very end of the keyboard, the part that people rarely touch except to annoy a person with incessant pressing of the highest note. Notes that stand out so much that no one bothers to include them, _“...Are you happy now? You can tell from my voice I’m not trying to fake anything.”_ There are still little details that he’s hiding, but Saihara doesn’t need to know everything.

Saihara didn’t nod. Instead he stopped playing entirely and took a deep breath, “...I think the calluses on my fingers are going away. I used to be able to practice for hours on hours. People would tell me to stop because sometimes I’d keep going until my fingers bled.”

“Hm? What’s with this sudden backstory drop?”

“Maybe I’m just being sentimental…” Saihara looked Ouma in the eyes, “It just... reminded me of how I used to coop myself up in the practice room alone. I rationalized it by calling it hard work, but really I was just isolating myself from the rest of the world.” He stretched out his fingers, knuckles cracking a bit too loud for someone with fair hands like his, “I didn’t realize how much I was trying to isolate myself until I was pushed into trying chamber music. And no matter how nervous I got before each rehearsal, worrying about what the other might think or if they might even quit because of me, it was all the more worth it in the end.”

Ouma snorted, “Pfft, do you want me to give you a reward or something? Participation award to Saihara Shuichi for managing to do a duet without a nervous breakdown!” He applauded. Saihara rolled his eyes and started playing again, this time going back to the second movement, softer and imbued with an air of melancholy. He crouched over the keys, this time just playing for the sake of it, because he couldn’t just play the two Allegro movements without going back to the Andante, leaving a gaping hole in the middle of the piece.

 _“You didn’t have to lay it on so thick, you know.”_ Is the whisper now audible to anyone or anything outside of Saihara? It didn’t matter for Ouma, not for this tiny part, _“God, the only way you could’ve made it worse was by offering me lessons to play a duet. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re flirting with me.”_

Saihara chuckled and kept playing, and a bit of playfulness seeped into the notes, subdued like the general melancholic, romantic mood of the movement. Yet somehow, it didn’t feel like a clash, rather a complement, one hand putting a little skip in its step while its melody danced around the somber, drifting bass.

Ouma tilted his head and leaned against Saihara’s shoulder, just for a brief second, so it could almost be called something else, _“Flirting or not, you’re not half-bad of a pianist. Just make sure I don’t have to carry the performance for you every rehearsal.”_

The ends of Saihara’s mouth curled up slightly and they parted to mouth something but Ouma pressed a finger to his lips.

“You don’t need to say anything.” He kept his finger on Saihara, “But you better do this everyday, this practice is more important for your musicianship than whatever Momota-chan makes you do.”

Saihara nodded and let the whole note sink in.


End file.
